Refrigerating unit



Nov. 21, 1933. c, L. WEST Re. 19,008

REFRIGERATING UNIT Original Filed March 9, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

Nov. 21, 1933. C. L WEST REFRIGERATING UNIT Original Filed March 9, 19522 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

Reiesued Nov. 21, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BEFBIGEBATING UNIT Original No. 1,898,922, dated February 21. 1933.Serial No. 587,714, March 9, 1932. Application for reissue September 21,1933.

Serial No.

12 Claims. (o1. 62-39) This invention relates to a refrigerating unit,and has to do particularly with cabinet construction in combination witha cooling unit of a mechanical refrigerating system for providingadditional food space maintained at a temperature different from thenormal temperature in the main food compartment.

Heretofore in the fabrication of refrigeration boxes it has beencustomary to provide an" inwardly tapering breaker strip for the boxopening which cooperates with an inwardly tapering insulated portion ofthe door, usually called a pan. In some cases the breaker strip isformed around the pan portionof the door and in other cases is formedboth around the opening of the box and around the pan. Regardless of theparticular construction it is customary in the standard type ofrefrigerated box to define one surface of the cubical content capacityof the box by the inner face of the pan. 1

' It is the object of the present invention to replace the standard doorwith the inwardly extending pan with a doorwherein the thickness orinsulating part thereof extends outwardly past the flange of the doorand the inwardly extending or pan portion is annular in form so as toprovide a hollow food space in line with or extending outwardly of theusual breaker strip. One of the objects of this construction is theprovision of approximately an extra cubic foot of food space withoutchanging the dimensions of the standard refrigerator box. In otherwords, the slight bulge on the door will in no way change the spacewithin the kitchen or other room within which the box is designed tofit, so that any standard refrigerator door can be replaced by the doorembodying the present invention without any change in the position ofthe box. Another important feature is the location of the foodv space ata point relative to the cooling unit whereby the temperatures maintainedin this extra food space will be at a higher range than the temperatureexisting in the refrigerator proper.

Other features of the invention will be brought out in the specificationand claims.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a domestic refrigerator box constructedin accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a more or less diagrammatic view iilustrating the standardrefrigerator cabinet illustrating the usual position of the same inconnection with the cupboard, and also showing the standard relationshipbetween the insulated part i of the door and the breaker strip of thecabinet proper.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but'showlng the door replaced with adoor constructed in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic sectional view illustrating the normal path ofair circulation created by a cooling unit in a conventional standardrefrigerator.

Figr-E is a diagrammatic view similar to Fig.

4 illustrating the general path of air circulation I when the box isequipped with my novel door structure.

In the manufacture ofdomestic. refrigerating cabinets, it is standardpractice to locate the cooling unit at some point within the box, orpreferably one of the upper corners thereof, so as to induce thepositive thermocirculation of the air within the box. The normalcirculation of this air is in a plane parallel to the front of the boxand while many attempts have been made to attain approximate uniformityof the temperatures at the top and bottom of the box, the bottom of thebox is always some cooler than the top.

It is also customary to set the thermostat or other device so that thetemperature at the top 30 of the box is always maintained below acertain point with the result that if the maximum tem: perature ofthe-box is supposed to be 50' then the bottom of the box will usually bearound 45. Such a standard type of domestic refrigerator box is shown at2 in Fig. 1. This box is shown combined with the usual cupboardarrangement and is provided with a door 3 having the tapered inwardlyextending sides formed by a pan 4 which is designed to closely fit abreaker strip 5. When the door is closed and the portion 4 of the pan Icooperates with the breaker strip 5, it will be seen that there will bevery little circulation of air past this breaker strip with the resultthat there will be very little sweating or heat entry at this point. Inprior designs, it has been customary to fabricate the door, as shown inFig. 2, with a relatively thick insulation 3a which, of course,correspondsv with the insulation around the other walls of the box. Byhaving insulation on all sides of the box, including the door, and byhaving a relatively close fit between the door pan and the mouth of thebox, it will be seen that the food chamber within the box is fairly wellinsulated from the atmosphere. The illustration in Fig. 2 is more orless diagrammatic, but it will be understood that the constructionbetween the door pan and the breaker strip is substantially as shown indetail in Fig. 1. The door pan may be metal and the interior of the boxmay be metal and the non-metallic breaker strip may be secured either tothe mouth of the box or around the pan of the door or on both.

In order to add additional storage space to atially the same as theflange of the standard door 3 as shown in Fig. 2, but the insulatingportion thereof preferably extends in a line with and forwardly of thisflange. The inner periphery of the door, however, is provided with aninwardly extending annular portion 4 which corresponds with the inwardlyextending portion of the standard door so as to provide means forcooperating with the breaker strip. v

In commercially fabricating this door, the entire inner panel of thedoor may be stamped out as one stam'ping, as best shown in Fig. 1, butinstead of the inner wall of the pan being flat, as shown in Fig. 2,such inner wall is recessed to form the chamber 6 and the annular wall 4defining the same. Suitable shelves or receptacles 7 may be carried bythe struck-in portion of the pan for receiving articles to be cooled. Itwill be particularly noted that the front edge 8 of the box remains thesame in each instance with the result that the novel door, as shown inFigs. 1 and 3, may replace the standard door 3a, as

shown in Fig, 2, without any change in the box or without changing thelocation of the box when installed in the home.

I have found that in the average small sized box of four and five cubicfeet that my novel door structure adds approximately one cubic foot tothe storage capacity of the box. However, this extra added storagecapacity is important not only from the standpoint of storage but fromthe standpoint that it provides an additional refrigerated area which ismaintained at a slightly higher temperature than the correspondingportions of the box proper. Referring to Fig. 5, which is thediagrammatic illustration of a box constructed in accordance with thepresent invention, it will be seen that the door pan extends inwardly toa point 9 which corresponds to the normal inwardly projecting portion orpan of the standard 'door. However, the inner portion of this door isrecessed to a point 10 which is substantially in alignment with the face8 of the box or slightly forward thereof. To obtain the necessaryinsulation, the front of the door 3 is bulged out to a point 11. Thecooling unit 12 may be located at the top portion of the box with theresult that the thermo-siphon action of the air will be in the directionof the arrows 13 as shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

The food storage space below the cooling unit 12 in the box shown inFig. 5 will be cooled and maintained at a temperature similar to thestorage space below the cooling unit 12 in the standard constructionshown in Fig. 4. However, by adding the storage space 6 to the front ofthe box and in front of the cooling unit 12 it will be seen that thepath of circulation will in general be as shown by the arrows 14 in Fig.5. The rate of circulation here will obviously be somewhat slower thanin the box proper and will also contact with the front surface of thecooling unit 12 with the very important result that the cooling portionsin the space 6 will be maintained at a slightly higher temperature thanthe corresponding portions in the box proper, The direct 1e,oos

result of this is that many foods which are readily preserved attemperatures. higher than those usually maintained in a refrigerator andcertain foods which are best preserved at such higher temperatures, maybe stored in such added space at the front of the box and all of thiswithout changing the standard dimensions of the box proper.

It will be understood that in tecessing the pan portion of the door toprovide added storage space maintained at slightly higher temperaturesthan the box proper, that I obtain novel results which are totallydifferent than the result obtained in those cases where articles to becooled or the cooling means itself are merely carried by the innerwallof the door, such as shown in tgggpatent to Young No. 940,416 ofNovember 16,

The added storage space 6 will be found particularly useful in thestoring of relatively small articles and for this p pose I have providedracks do each having a bottom wall and side wall of substantially thesame height and the distance between adjacent racks being substantiallythe same as the height of the individual racks. This will permit ofcompact and positive storing of small articles and will positivelyprevent the articles from falling out during the swinging of the door.

What I claim is:

1. In combination with a refrigerator cabinet having insulated walls,and having a breaker strip adjacent the opening thereof, a cooling unitsetting up circulation of air in said cabinet, a door having a bulgedout portion extending forwardly of the front of the cabinet to providean additional storage space substantially in alignment with the breakerstrip and subject to said air circulation within the cabinet.

2. In combination with a refrigerator cabinet having insulated walls,and having a breaker strip adjacent the opening thereof, a cooling unitsetting up a circulation of air in said cabinet, a door having a bulgedout portion extending forwardly of the front of the cabinet to providean additional storage space which extends forwardly of the breakerstrip.

3. A domestic refrigerating unit comprising a cabinet of standardconstruction and of a type having a cooling unit positioned to causecirculation of air within the food chamber as defined by the cabinet,and a door having insulated walls projecting outwardly from the cabinetso as to form an auxiliary insulated food chamber within the door and sopositioned relative to the cooling unit as to set up auxiliary aircurrents which maintain the compartment definedby the door at highertemperature than corresponding parts of the food chamber proper.

4. A domestic refrigerating unit having a cabinet with insulatedwalls-and a cooling unit positioned to cause circulation of air withinthe food chamber properas defined by the side and rear walls of thecabinet, and an auxiliary food chamber formed within the door andsubject to the air circulation within the cabinet, and having the innerface of said door substantially flush with the front wall of thecabinet, and the -insulated portion of said wall extending beyond thefront wall of the cabinet.

5. In a domestic refrigerator of the type having an insulated cabinetand an insulated door,-a cooling unit therein setting up circulation ofair, the insulated door having a flange cooperating with the cabinetopening, the insulated door being bulged outwardly past the plane ofsaid flange thereby to form additional storage space subject to the aircirculation within the cabinet, and an inwardly extending flangedisposed angularly with respect to said first-named flange andcooperating with the cabinet opening and defining the side walls of saidadditional storage space.

6. In a refrigeration cabinet an insulated box portion having arefrigeration unit therein, and a door opening, a door mounted in saidopening and having a portion thereof substantially flush with the boxwalls about the opening so as to permit latching of the door to the boxwalls, said door being formed with an insulated projecting bodyextending outwardly of the box from said substantially flush portion toform a compartment within the door, opening into the cabinet, and meansfor supporting articles to be kept cool within said compartment.

7. In combination with a refrigerator cabinet having insulated walls,means for circulating cold air within the cabinet, a door having anoutwardly extending bulged out portion forming additional storage meansavailable to the circulating cold air within the cabinet, and articlesupporting shelves carried by the door and having vertical front walls,the space between some of the adjacent shelves being close so as toaccommodate only small articles.

8. In a refrigerator having insulated walls defining a door opening, anda cooling unit within it, a door having insulated walls of requiredthickness throughout and arranged to cooperate with said opening, saiddoor walls being bulged outwardly from the plane of the front of thecabinet, leaving an auxiliary food compartment within the door which issubject to cool air circulating within the cabinet, and is locatedbeyond a plane which would interfere with normal shelving within thecabinet.

9. In a domestic refrigerator, a cooling unit in the upper portion ofthe cabinet for setting up a definite path of refrigerated air in a pathat vvright angles to the door, a breaker strip around the cabinetopening, an auxilairy chamber within the door and in the general planeof the breaker strip, said auxiliary chamber being in front of thecooling unit and substantially the height of the door and so positionedas to set up a slower and auxiliary path of air circulation relative tosaid main path of air circulation.

10. In a domestic refrigerator, a cabinet, :1

cooling unit in the cabinet for setting up circulation of refrigeratedair therein, said cabinet having insulated walls about the door openingtherein, a door having an insulated body hinged to the cabinet so as toabut the front of the cabinet when closed, and having a projectingportion extending into the cabinet whenthe door is closed, the innersurface of the door being formed outwardly from the inner face of theprojecting portion forming a compartment surrounded by the projectingportion, said compartment extending to a point where it opensunrestrictedly on the cooling unit, whereby circulation of refrigeratedair is set up in the compartment, and shelves mounted on said door andlying at least in part within the compartment.

11. In a domestic refrigerator, a cabinet, a cooling unit in the cabinetfor setting up circulation of refrigerated air therein, said cabinethaving insulated walls about the door opening therein, a door having aninsulated body hinged to the cabinet so as to abut the front of thecabinet when closed, and having a projecting portion extending into thecabinet when the door is closed, said projecting portion containinginsulation, the inner surface of the door being formed outwardly fromthe inner face of the projecting portion forming a compartmentsurrounded by the projecting portion, said compartment extending to apoint where it opens unrestrictedlyon the cooling unit, wherebycirculation of refrigerated air is set up in the compartment, andshelves mounted on said door and lying at least in part within thecompartment.

12. In a domestic refrigerator, a cabinet, a cooling unit located in theupper portion of said cabinet to set up a circulation of refrigeratedair therein, said cabinet having insulated walls about the door opening,a door for said cabinet having an insulated body hinged to the cabinetso as to abut the front of the cabinet when closed, and having aprojecting portion extending into the cabinet when closed, the innersurface of the door being formed outwardly from the inner edge of theprojecting portion so as to form a compartment surrounded by theprojecting portion, said compartment located at least in part below thecooling unit so as to be available to the circulatory air in thecabinet, and shelves mounted on said a door and lying at least in partwithin the cabinet. 25

CONSTAN CE LANE WEST.

